all creatures great and small

Early morning surprise

I've been coming to Clove Lakes for 25 years now (with at least a good dozen year absence tossed in between). It's a fairly large park length wise, consisting of three large lakes connected by streams. The northern most lake from which the park gets its name is the one I always visit first on every trip, as any bus I catch from my house puts me right there. I then take a leisurely stroll southward almost always ending at Martling ave which would take me through the entire length of the parks 2nd lake. Then I turn back up and head north again at days end or earlier.

The 3rd and most southern lake in the park (Brooks) is the least open of the three. Lots of dense vegetation while great for wildlife that prefer to remain hidden, makes it tough for me to photograph them. I had no success there in my early trips before my 15 year or so photograhic hiatus. When I got back into photography in 2007 the auto focus equipment I had wasn't good enough to improve my chances much, so I never bothered reacquainting myself with this lake. Later on even after purchasing my 70-300mm nikkor I took no interest in re exploring this furthermost lake, for while this handy long zoom is great for street photography, it was never designed to capture razor sharp images of animals from great distances away, half draped in leaves and brush, so again I never ventured in.

But today for the first time in over 20 years curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to go on a scouting trip, mostly to size up possible opportunities for fine fall shots going forward, figuring again I still had nothing in my arsenal that would help me get nice nature shots here.

Now I had come here to Clove Lakes today to possibly capture all manor of nature and even some possible candid shots, especially at least a planned three to five hundred shots of that herons nest featured quite prominently in this gallery, so I was really loaded for bear, making navigation through the densest parts of the lake difficult and at several points impossible. But despite this I "wanted in". I could hear the distinct sound of running water and knew the volume of it coming from Martling lake and feeding into Brooks lake likely made for some interesting land features, something that would hold great potential for my fall scenic shots. I had my biggest tripod bag over my shoulder and because I brought so much gear with me, my wheeled camera bag (it looks for all the world like a wheeled luggage bag, and holds a huge amount of gear that I for the most part can easily pull behind me on the paved roads that circle the parks lakes.

The vegetation was so thick that neither cart nor shoulder bag could make it through, so I left them near a tree, then strapped my camera and my longest zoom lenses around my neck and with no small amount of difficulty, tripped and slipped my way down the dense embankment towards the sound of running water. When I cleared the last of the vegetation I saw the water from the second lake that past under Martling ave, running down a man made waterfall that consisted of more than a half a dozen tiers. I couldn't get close to it as there was a deep trench in front of it, and all around my feet was mud, water, moss, and little sure footing to be had. It was a cinch that not many people venture down here, and given the lack of sure footing I was getting ready to turn back myself, when an unexpected sight caught my eye.

A mother duck and her ducklings feeding off what I guessed was moss at the edge of the waterfall, which made for a very interesting early morning composition. She was not expecting to see humans here - probably ever, and I immediately sensed their alertness of my presence, so at first I made as few movements as possible, while she ushered them to move off to my right, and away from my direction.

I wanted to get closer as I was at the very edge of effectiveness for this particular lens. If I was shooting people from this distance it would have been no issue, as your rarely ever trying to capture every hair and pore on a persons face from 40 ft away. But you do want to capture every feather on your nature subjects, especially if they are cuddly little ducklings draped in the early light from a nice morning like this.

I inched a little closer. A slight fog created by the heat of my body covered my viewfinder which combined with the back lighting on the scene made focusing especially difficult, and I wasn't sure any of the shots were in focus, before mother duck, fed up with my presence here at her secret nursery, led them off away from me. But not before I got some wonderful shots. A nice way to re introduce me to the lake I had ignored for lo these many years.

springStaten IslandClove LakesducksmallardsbirdsnatureNYCsld3